Finding Information Sources
Library Finding Guides
In order to be successful in this course, it will be necessary to gather supporting material from the UT Libraries. The UT Libraries have developed a number of resources specifically for public speaking students that are designed to assist you in gathering information from appropriate sources. These guides will direct you to databases, reference books, e-journals, web sites, and more:
Research and Assignment Help
During the semester twenty-four hours a day Monday through Friday (see http://www.lib.utk.edu/hours/ for exact hours) you can reach someone that can help you with your research.
- In-Person help: Hodges Library 1 st floor Reference Desk or 2 nd floor Commons Desk
- Phone help: Reference Desk (865-974-4171) or Commons Desk (865-974-4624)
- Email & Chat help: click AskUs.Now! from the home page (http://www.lib.utk.edu)
Research basics.
If you want a quick place to get started try the following:
- To find books or other media (including videos), use the online catalog at http://www.lib.utk.edu/catalog/.
- To find journal, magazine, or newspaper articles use the UT Libraries databases at http://www.lib.utk.edu/databases/. “General Topics” is always a good place to start or you can choose one of the subject categories.
Constructing a search strategy.
The words that you select when you are trying to find information about your topic are important. Itis just as important when searching the Web as it is when searching the Libraries databases. The following steps and hints will help you find the information you need and save time and frustration in the process.
- Identify Keywords . The first step is to examine your specific purpose and decide what the main keywords are. If your specific purpose is “to inform my audience about the legalization of marijuana” your main keyword is marijuana and your aspect is legalization.
- Identify Synonyms . The second step is to identify synonyms of your keywords. This will increase the likelihood that you will find all of the relevant information about your topic. See the following table for an example of how you can structure the process of identifying synonyms for your topic. Don’t forget to include alternative spellings. It is often helpful to include slang synonyms that are not likely to bring a lot of results. This will help you identify articles that you might not find with your original search terms. Dictionaries are very helpful if you are having trouble thinking of synonyms.
Use truncation when the ending of a word could vary. The symbol for truncation in Academic Search Premier is an asterisk (*). By using “legali*” as a search term the database will return hits on words such as legalization, legalize, legalized, legalization, etc….
Marijuana |
Legalization (legali*) |
Cannabis |
Support |
Pot |
Decriminalization (decriminal*) |
Other synonyms: marihuana, ganja, Acapulco gold, Mexican green, grass, green goddess, dope, weed, smoke, skunk, locoweed, Mary Jane |
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- Create Search Phrases.
Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and truncation to construct your search phrases.
- Use AND between the columns of your table (ex: Cannabis AND legalization, pot AND support)
- Use OR between the rows of your table (ex: Cannabis OR pot OR marijuana)
You can create complex, yet very effective search phrases by using parentheses, for example: ((Cannabis OR pot OR marijuana) AND (legali* OR decriminal*)) In Academic Search Premier this search would look like: 
Searching a Database.
Academic Search Premier is a UT Libraries database which contains articles on a wide variety of topics. It is a great place to start your search and a good database to use as an example of how to search a library database.
- Analyzing Results.
The first thing that you should do after hitting the“Search” button is to analyze the results. How many hits did you get? Do the titles sound like they match your topic? Are the articles in magazines, newspapers, or academic journals?
We received 645 hits on the marijuana legalization topic; the first three results are below. It would take too long to read all 645 titles in search for the academic journal article that we want. One way to weed through these results quickly is to click on the “Academic Journals” link. This will narrow your results to 116.
Another way to analyze your results is by looking at the details of an article. What does the abstract (or article summary) say? What are subject links? When was the article written? Also, by clicking on the subject links you will be led to all the articles in that database with the same subject link.
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Finding the articles. Within most databases, there are three main
ways to gain access to the full text of the article: print from html, print from pdf, and link to “Find Text.” These are all shown here. When you click on “Find Text” you will find a link to the catalog to see if the UT Libraries has a print version of the article and often will be given a link to another database with the full text of an article.
- Database Search Help. Each database that you use is different. Always consult the database’s help resources for information about the specific truncation symbols, printing and emailing articles, thesauruses (or a list of related subject terms), and using other features such as search history and customization option.
Explore these links for resources on:
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